Passenger movement on the Tel Aviv Red Train is a new indicator of the impact of the war on the Israeli interior (Shutterstock)

The number of passengers on the Red Line of the light railway in Tel Aviv fell by about 37.5% to 75,000 passengers per day after Israel launched the war on the Gaza Strip, from 120,000 per day before it, according to data from the Israeli government company NTA, part of which was quoted by the Globes newspaper. Israeli economic.

The company that runs the light rail system in Tel Aviv, Direct Pulse, conducted a survey by surveying the answers of 2,000 people in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, where about 350,000 people live. The results indicated that 83% of the sample used the line, and 59 % of those who live in neighborhoods not adjacent to the red line also used it, according to the newspaper.

But the newspaper pointed out that these questions are not useful, and that it is interesting to know how often people use the line, and why those who do not travel through it prefer other means of transportation?

The newspaper says that these questions are particularly relevant, given that the Israeli government company estimates that the number of passengers of 120,000 daily before the war and 75,000 currently comes despite improvements in service, an increase in the frequency of trains, and a reduction in the number of buses operating on the competing route. For new lines.

The movement in Tel Aviv declined with the outbreak of the war on Gaza (Shutterstock)

The newspaper concluded that questions about knowledge of the light rail do not give a correct signal, because Israel has invested about 19 billion shekels ($5.2 billion) in it.

In the context of the repercussions of the war, data issued by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics this week revealed a rise in unemployment rates in Israel, with the number of unemployed people increasing by 11,000 last January.

The unemployment rate rose from 3.1% in December 2023 to 3.4% last January, painting a difficult picture for the country's workforce, according to Globes.

Source: Israeli press